The present invention relates to rope shovels used for example in the mining and the construction industries.
In the mining field, and in other fields in which large volumes of materials must be collected and removed from a work site, it is typical to employ a power shovel including a large dipper for shoveling material from the work site. After filling the dipper with material, the shovel swings the dipper to the side to dump the material into a material handling unit, such as a dump truck or a local handling unit (e.g., crusher, sizer, or conveyor). Generally, the shovels used in the industry include hydraulic shovels and electric rope shovels. Electric rope shovels typically include a shovel boom that supports a pulling mechanism that pulls the shovel dipper thereby producing efficient dig force to excavate the bank of material. Conventional electric rope shovels include a relatively straight boom that is mounted at forty five degrees with respect to a horizontal plane (e.g., the ground).